Things are a lot different today than they were when Internet Capital Group (ICG) president Doug Alexander started his first company, Reality Online, in 1989. There are more resources, larger networks and smaller financial hurdles for entrepreneurs.

One thing hasn't changed--value. Alexander has a knack for spotting and nurturing it. He took Reality Online from an early innovator in financial planning tools to a leading provider of internet solutions to the retail brokerage industry before selling the company to Reuters in 1994.

Since joining Wayne-based ICG in 1997 as managing director, he has served as CEO or chairman of several companies that have been successfully sold or brought to IPO. In his current capacity, he sponsors and oversees investments in a growing roster of dynamic partner companies. ICG, a venture capital firm specializing in mid- and late-venture investments of 30-40 percent in on-demand internet software and service businesses with minimum revenues of $10 million, has grown to include offices in San Francisco and Boston.

The University of Pennsylvania and Wharton School product is a panelist in today's Founder Factory event at World Café Live in Philadelphia. Sponsored by Philly Start-Up Leaders, the event brings entrepreneurs together with mentors, advisors and angel and venture capital investors to stimulate start-up activity, and Alexander is positioned well to do just that.

Keystone Edge: Why participate in an event like Founder Factory?
Doug Alexander: I personally believe we work hard to promote the technology community in Philadelphia and we've been involved since the beginning with things like the Eastern Technology Council, DreamIt Ventures, Founder Factory, which are all about promoting the area and technology entrepreneurship.

I don't think there's a direct economic benefit in as much as being involved in this stage generally keeps us abreast of trends, and what great opportunities might be coming tomorrow. This is also where we find the best talent. We'll find people here that may be working for one of our companies a few years later. To me this is a real source of talent.

KE: How is your acquisition and operating model unique?
DA: We're a publically traded holding company where we take significant stakes in firms and hopefully add a lot of value to help them grow. We focus on two areas, business process outsourcing and online marketing. There have been a number of successes in our history and I think we generally get very good marks from the entrepreneurs we have.

We basically got out of the market for a couple of years, didn't do a significant deal in 2007 or 2008 and exited two companies near the peak of the market. It was much more of a seller's market than a buyer's market. It wasn't until this year that we said 'OK, we're going to invest again.' We have faith that the global economy will come out of this rough patch. Right now's a pretty good time to put money to work.

KE:Where are you seeing opportunities?
DA: We see a lot of opportunities in cloud-based computing coming to vertical markets, and the other area is specific segments of online marketing. There's more entrepreneurial activity than ever before. I think it's much more interconnected than it was. People know other people in the community are aware of what they're doing. Part of it is having the tools available that we didn't have back then. You've got some real leaders, through Philly Start-Up Leaders and Founder Factory and DreamIt. They're really driving the next generation.

KE: What's the market for software and internet companies in PA?
DA: I think there's been a resurgence the last couple years here with Founder Factory and DreamIt. Ben Franklin has been involved for a few decades. I think there's always been an investment in the area trying to figure out industries and companies of tomorrow. What I see in things like Founder Factory and Philly Start-Up Leaders is the community is much tighter and more networked than I've seen it historically. Some of that is a function of the social tools available now. The biggest difference from back in the 1980s and '90s is everyone knows each other. Having that stronger network gives you stronger ideas.

It's easier to start a company than ever before. You're seeing a young generation that grew up in an entrepreneurial world and it's a natural thing to start up a company. Start-up costs are also much lower. You're seeing companies being started for $50,000 that 10 years ago would have been $500,000 and 20 years ago would have been $2 million. It's a much more dynamic environment.

KE: Your company posted 40 percent quarterly revenue growth from 2008. To what do you attribute that?
DA: It's being driven by our company, ICG Commerce located in King of Prussia. It's our biggest and fastest-growing company. They're in the business of helping customers drive cost efficiency. They deliver on that consistently and that's a big area where people are focused in this economy. They're an outsourced procurement provider that goes into a company and takes over categories of spending, from sourcing product to finding the right supplier. Once they find it, the contract it and manages the purchase-to-pay process. They're up to manage $14 billion to spend. They're about 10 years old and have been consistently adding staff through the economic downturn.

It's a really great success story. We seed-funded and went through several business models until we got it right about 4 1/2 years ago. Since then it's really ridden the wave that it somewhat helped create with a tremendous management team and finely honed value proposition. They've got five years of delivering results for their clients, which in itself broadens the market.